Madhya Pradesh HC stays state govt's 27 pc OBC quota ordinance

The Madhya Pradesh High Court Tuesday, in an interim order, stayed the state government's ordinance increasing reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBC) category to 27 per cent from the earlier 14 per cent.

The Congress government in the state had issued an ordinance on March 8 increasing the reservation in the OBC category to 27 per cent.

A division bench of justices RS Jha and Sanjay Dwivedi Tuesday stayed the state government ordinance which increased the percentage of reservation for OBCs.

Petitioners Ashita Dubey, Richa Pandey and Suman, all MBBS students who had appeared for NEET 2019 for admissions to post graduate medical courses, had challenged the state government's ordinance on grounds that it violated provisions of Article 16(4) of the Constitution, their counsel Aditya Sanghi said.

The government's quota move had led to reservation in the state reaching 63 per cent, a breach of the 50 per cent cap on reservation, the counsel said.

The counselling for post graduate courses is scheduled to start from March 25, Sanghi said.

It is directed that the respondents shall not provide reservation of more than 14 percent for the OBC category in admission made to colleges on the strength of the ordinance which is a subject matter of this petition, the court said.

The court has sought replies within two weeks from the state director for medical education and the principal secretary of the medical education department.